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Blister Packaging

Pharmaworks vice president and sales director Ben Brower reports that 2013 was filled with an interesting mix of healthcare product packaging challenges. “We’ve put almost anything you can think of in a blister,” he says. While the company has traditionally supplied blister forming machinery for pharmaceutical solid doses, last year it worked on a number of projects involving powders, liquids, and even medical devices. “These companies looked to the pharmaceutical blister platform for packaging solutions,” Brower says.

Compliance packaging can be part of the plan to improve patient adherence with prescribed drug regimens.

NEHI, a national health policy institute seeking to identify strategies to improve health care quality and lower health care costs, has released a national medication adherence agenda. Compliance packaging could play a role in the agenda’s priorities put forth by NEHI for public and private policymakers.

NEHI points out that the U.S. Congressional Budget Office claimed that a 5% increase in the number of prescriptions used by Medicare patients would result in a 1 percent decrease in their medical and hospital spending.

Global packaging provider SteriPack has expanded in Malaysia to offer a range of pharmaceutical packaging services in its new cGMP-compliant Grade D facility. Pharma now accounts for 50% of the Klang, Selangor, facility's business exports to more than 52 countries, the company reports. SteriPack now offers blister packaging services all over the globe.

Amcor Flexibles’s Formpack has been recognized in two recent awards programs. Amcor Formpack Advanced Blister Design received an Alufoil Trophy in the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) awards program in the Resource Efficiency category. In addition, the Dent-Resistant Compact Formpack received a Silver Award in the Technical Innovation category of the Flexible Packaging Association’s (FPA) 57th Annual Achievement Awards and Innovation Showcase.

Constantia Flexibles will invest $12 million to expand its main U.S. manufacturing facility in Blythewood, SC. Currently performing laminating, coating, rotogravure printing and slitting, the factory produces foil-based structures for blister packages, child-resistant packaging, and lidding for portion controlled containers.

Amcor Flexibles has been recognized with two Alufoil Trophies in the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) awards program. In the Resource Efficiency category, the company was awarded an Alufoil for the Amcor Formpack Advanced Blister Design, and in the Technical Innovation category it was celebrated for the Amcor Alufix Dry Smart, a peel-off end membrane for nonretortable cans.

In 2009, Texas-based specialty pharmaceutical company ULURU Inc. introduced Altrazeal, a powder polymer material for treating chronic and acute wounds. When exposed to body fluids, the powder transforms into a three-dimensional microporous film that contours to the shapes of wounds. Capillaries form in the microporous film, promoting a high moisture-vapor transpiration rate, which helps manage wound exudate and creates an appropriate moist environment for wound healing. The film’s small pore size enables oxygen transport to the wound bed while preventing bacteria penetration.

Uhlmann Packaging Systems has introduced its new Blister Express Center 500 (BEC 500) featuring integrated blister and carton machinery for producing up to 500 blisters and 500 cartons per minute. The line is prepared for item serialization both for individual blisters as well as cartons.

Building off features employed on its previous machinery, Pharmaworks will introduce its newly designed TF2 blister machine at Pack Expo International October 28–November 1.

The TF2 is a mid-sized all-servo-driven blister machine that can produce more than 200 blisters per minute. In addition to handling solid oral drugs, the system can employ plug assists for deeper draws to accommodate medical devices such as syringes and kits. The new machine features a format range of 300 mm x 160 mm.

Almac Pharma Services has partnered with Uhlmann Packaging
Systems to build a blister packaging line that can support multiple
formats, product combinations, and hybrid printing.

Pharmaceutical and biotech contract company Almac Pharma Services has installed a high-speed blister line at its new 100,000-sq-ft packaging facility in Audubon, PA. The UPS4 blister line provided by Uhlmann Packaging will package solid oral dose products, using a range of materials such as PVC, PVC/PVDC, Aclar, and Alu/Alu. The line will feature an integrated C2206 cartoner, offering an output of up to 12,000 blisters per hour in a wide range of blister sizes.